Chapter 194
Urtian looked at the woman kneeling before him with interest.
She was covered in sand from head to toe, and her clothes were torn in several places—it was clear she had gone through a great ordeal.
And indeed, she had.
The woman had survived an attack from a Sandworm.
She had nearly been swallowed whole but somehow managed to escape, only to be slammed onto the ground.
The impact had been so severe that she lost consciousness, and it was Urtian and the Red Storm Brigade who happened to find her while passing nearby.
Urtian asked,
“So, what was your name again?”
“My name is Sarah.”
“Right, Sarah. So you’re saying there’s a place called the Steel Fortress somewhere around here?”
“Y-Yes…”
Her voice trembled uncontrollably.
She had left the Steel Fortress with Jacob, Lucy, and others to gather Sun Flowers when they were attacked by the Sandworm.
When she came to her senses, instead of her companions, she saw Urtian and the Red Storm Brigade standing before her.
Her face was filled with fear as she looked at them.
The Steel Fortress was completely isolated.
Most of the elders disliked any contact between its residents and the outside world.
Because of that, they enforced a strict isolation policy.
Except for hunting parties and those sent to gather Sun Flowers, entry and exit were tightly controlled.
The elders had indoctrinated everyone, saying that outsiders were untrustworthy and no different from monsters that preyed on the fortress.
Sarah had been raised under that belief—so she feared outsiders.
And Urtian, in particular, was terrifying.
He wasn’t deliberately making a fierce expression or threatening her, but his mere presence was enough to instill fear.
Urtian smiled and said,
“You’re scared, aren’t you, Sarah? Don’t worry. I’m not such a frightening person.”
“Yes…”
“Let’s have a conversation, shall we? So, you came from the Steel Fortress, right? And that place is safe from monsters?”
“Yes.”
“And it’s large enough to house around two thousand people?”
“Yes…”
Sarah answered as if she were about to cry.
She didn’t want to speak at all—but Urtian’s overwhelming presence made her answer involuntarily.
“Most importantly, there’s a water supply, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good! Excellent!”
A smile spread across Urtian’s lips.
Having a stable water source was an enormous advantage.
Occasionally, they might get lucky and find an oasis with a Sand Leviathan—but such oases were rare.
The one they had captured before had only been possible due to sheer luck. If they had been even a little slower, it would have vanished along with the oasis.
That was why securing water was always Urtian’s top priority.
“Sarah, we’ll take you back to the Steel Fortress.”
“N-No! That’s not necessary. I can go by myself.”
“That won’t do. Sending a lady alone through such a dangerous night—no gentleman would allow that.”
“I-I’m really fine.”
“We’re not fine with it. Right?”
Urtian asked his subordinates behind him.
“Of course not. How could we let a fragile woman go alone?”
“We should protect her, naturally. Heh.”
They answered as if it were obvious.
Urtian shrugged and looked at Sarah.
“You hear that?”
“Th-That’s…”
“You don’t have a choice. Stop talking and guide us. Now.”
“Now?”
“That’s right.”
It was night.
Night was the time of monsters.
Even the most skilled awakened avoided moving at night—but the Red Storm Brigade didn’t care.
They were confident in their strength—but they were also desperate.
The Red Storm Brigade wasn’t made up of awakened alone.
Most of their people were ordinary humans.
For their sake, they needed a safe place to stay.
The Steel Fortress was perfect.
Urtian gave the order.
“Everyone, we move to the Steel Fortress immediately. And Aslan, Duduyan!”
“Yes!”
“Captain!”
Aslan and Duduyan stepped forward.
“You heard me?”
“Yes.”
“Can you find it without Sarah’s guidance?”
“No problem.”
Aslan answered immediately.
A smile appeared on Urtian’s face.
“You two go ahead and scout the inside of the Steel Fortress. And…”
“We’ll take care of the preliminary work as well. Don’t worry.”
With that reply, Duduyan left first with Aslan.
In an instant, they disappeared into the darkness.
Urtian turned back to Sarah.
“Sarah, let’s go.”
“Sob…”
Sarah couldn’t hold back her tears any longer.
But no one in the Red Storm Brigade showed her any sympathy.
Urtian urged her on.
“Move.”
His voice was gentle—but firm.
***
The house of the First Elder, Gerwen, was the largest and most luxurious in the Steel Fortress.
As if to reflect his authority, numerous awakened individuals’ homes were positioned around it.
By arranging them this way, he had formed an ironclad defensive network centered on his residence.
A party was in full swing inside Gerwen’s house.
“Haah!”
“Mmm…”
Awakened individuals sat on chairs or sprawled across the floor, letting out groans.
All of them had hazy, unfocused eyes.
They had inhaled powder made from processed Sun Flowers.
The Sun Flower—what Zeon called demon grass—contained narcotic properties, plunging those who inhaled it into hallucinations.
In such a closed environment, there was little to enjoy.
The powder made from Sun Flowers had become the ultimate form of entertainment.
Gerwen used that powder to control the awakened of the Steel Fortress.
Once addicted, it was impossible to break free from it.
The problem was that gathering Sun Flowers was extremely difficult.
They only bloomed from the corpses of specific monsters, and finding such corpses was no easy task.
Fortunately, not long ago, they had discovered a monster corpse deep underground where Sun Flowers had grown.
However, the passage leading down to it was too narrow—forcing them to send in children.
That was why Jacob and Lucy had been chosen.
Even though this expedition had ended in failure.
Gerwen muttered from his chair,
“Tch! A complete failure this time. Didn’t even get a single Sun Flower, and came back with trouble instead.”
His gaze turned toward Matthew’s house outside the window.
Matthew’s death didn’t bother him in the slightest.
He had been a follower of Holtran, the Second Elder.
The real issue was the outsiders now staying in Matthew’s house.
Gerwen had enforced a strict isolation policy for years.
By cutting off all contact with the outside world, he had preserved the safety and purity of the Steel Fortress.
It hadn’t always been like this.
In the past, they traded with nearby survivors and exchanged goods. Life had been somewhat more prosperous then.
But one day, outsiders who coveted the Steel Fortress attacked.
Many people were killed or injured, and after that incident, Gerwen imposed the isolation policy.
He severed all ties with the outside and aimed to create a completely self-sufficient ecosystem.
At first, it seemed to work.
With no outside contact, there were no invasions, and no need for constant vigilance.
But as time passed, problems began to emerge.
Food became harder to obtain, and children were born with genetic diseases due to inbreeding.
People lost their spirit of challenge and stopped venturing out.
As a result, the Steel Fortress gradually declined, and people began to lose trust in Gerwen.
Feeling the pressure, Gerwen found his solution in the Sun Flower.
He would control the people by addicting them to the drug.
The one who opposed this was Holtran, the Second Elder.
He disapproved of Gerwen’s actions and opposed him at every turn.
Letting Zeon’s group into the fortress had also been Holtran’s doing.
On the surface, it was to repay them for saving Jacob and Lucy—but in reality, he intended to use them to counter Gerwen.
Gerwen smiled faintly and muttered,
“You think I don’t see through your schemes, Holtran? This is my kingdom. No one will take it from me. The outsiders you brought in… will be eliminated before this night ends. Heh…”
***
Late at night, figures moved in secrecy.
Their destination was the house on the outskirts of the fortress.
Reaching the front, they looked around carefully.
All the houses were dark.
After confirming there were no witnesses, they took out tightly sealed pouches.
They opened a window and carefully tossed the pouches inside.
Thud.
The seals broke, and an invisible gas began to leak out.
Colorless and odorless, it spread throughout the house in an instant.
After some time passed, the intruders opened the door and entered.
The house they had infiltrated was Zeon’s.
They checked each room.
Inside, Zeon and his group lay unconscious.
Smiles spread across the intruders’ faces.
“They’re all out. That sleep gas made from the venom of the Four-Eyed Bat will keep them down for at least a day.”
The Four-Eyed Bat was a monster that lived beneath the fortress.
It had four eyes and fangs that paralyzed its prey.
The processed toxin from its glands could knock out even large monsters.
The intruders each hoisted one person onto their backs.
“This girl’s really pretty. Think we can have some fun before killing her?”
The man carrying Eloi muttered as he groped her.
At that moment, the leader snapped,
“Cut the crap. She’s an awakened. If she wakes up because of your nonsense, we’re in trouble.”
“I’m not actually going to do anything. Tch, can’t even joke around.”
“Enough. Let’s go.”
“Fine.”
The man replied with a dissatisfied look.
They carried Zeon’s group out of the house.
Their destination was deeper inside the Steel Fortress.
There, a narrow vertical tunnel led underground—
a cave inhabited by the Four-Eyed Bats.
Iron bars had been placed at the entrance to prevent the bats from coming out.
Their plan was to kill Zeon’s group here and dump the bodies into the tunnel.
“Let’s finish this quickly and head back. The others are probably inhaling Sun Flower powder by now.”
“Yes, we’ll slit their throats right away.”
The subordinates set Zeon’s group down on the ground.
All four of them appeared to be in a deep, unconscious sleep.
The man who had carried Eloi looked at the leader with a pleading expression.
“Boss… can’t I just have a little fun first?”
“You bastard…”
“They’re going to be bat food anyway. It won’t leave a mark.”
“…Ten minutes. Finish it in that time.”
“Heh, that’s more than enough.”
Grinning, the man dragged Eloi into a corner.
The leader sighed deeply.
“Damn animal…”
“Funny hearing that from you.”
At that moment, a voice came from behind him.
Thinking it was one of his men joking around, the leader turned back angrily.
“What did you say, you bas—”
The moment he saw who it was, his eyes shook.
Zeon—who should have been unconscious—was standing there completely fine.
Levin and Brielle were also awake, looking at him with clear eyes.
The subordinates who had carried them were all collapsed on the ground.
It had happened without the leader even noticing.
‘W-When…?’
Cold sweat ran down his back.
Then—
“AAAGH!”
A desperate scream echoed from the man who had dragged Eloi away.